Activision Blizzard Inc. shareholders handed management everything it wanted at their annual meeting Wednesday, including rejecting a proposal that the company publicly commit to not interfere with union organizing.
The video-game giant had asked investors to not support the proposal, which was submitted by the AFL-CIO’s Equity Index Funds, saying it had already made such commitments. Activision has been the subject of union organizing at several of its video-game studios. Regulators accused the company earlier this year of threatening workers and illegally monitoring them during a walkout. Activision said it did nothing wrong.
Investors requesting an annual report on the company’s progress in addressing harassment and discrimination dropped their proposal after the company released its own last month, Activision said.
“We appreciate the productive dialogue with our shareholders about our policies, Transparency Report, and ongoing commitment to foster the most welcoming and inclusive workplace in our industry,” Bobby Kotick, Activision’s chief executive officer, said in a statement announcing the results.
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Unions supported similar proposals at other companies this year, including Starbucks Corp., where shareholders approved one asking the company to conduct a third-party assessment of how it treats workers.
Activision, the maker of video games like Call of Duty and Overwatch, is trying to be acquired by Microsoft Corp. in a $69 billion deal that regulators in the US and the UK have opposed. Microsoft last year announced a commitment to “make it simpler” for employees to exercise their unionization rights, and agreed with labor to ease the organizing process after the Activision acquisition.
Shareholders at Activision’s meeting also approved the company’s executive pay plan and rejected a proposal to require a shareholder vote on any severance packages that exceed three times annual salary and short-term bonus.
--With assistance from Cecilia D'Anastasio and Jason Schreier.